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Breathing life into air study

A visitor to Bayview or Sault College may have noticed in recent weeks people wearing full helmets while riding treadmills.

Before calling the police, breathe easy.

Health Canada and Algoma University's NORDIK Institute have begun a five-week study of the effects of industrial air pollution on human health, testing at the two sites where Ontario's Ministry of the Environment has long had air-monitoring stations.

"It's the largest study of its kind, in terms of the number of participants, length of study and number of treatments," said Ildiko Horvath, the air quality study co-ordinator.

Health Canada is spending $900,000 on the probe, with the NORDIK Institute carrying out its minutely detailed methodology.

The volunteers' eight-hour days are broken up into 40-minute blocks, during which numerous vital signs are monitored, including blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate variability, pulmonary function. There are rest periods, exercise periods, meals and snacks, which are also carefully calibrated to be low-sodium, low fat and low nitrate.

There are three test groups: those breathing unfiltered air at Sault College, those breathing unfiltered air on Essar Steel Algoma grounds and those breathing pristine, filtered air, via the helmet, at Essar.

Participants rotate through the five-week cycle doing each of these for one week at a time, with two weeks off in between. They earn $5,000 at the end of it.

Health Canada, meanwhile, earns a mountain of data. Horvath said just two other air quality studies have been done but those were more specialized, for example, testing children with asthma.

She said Sault Ste. Marie proved an ideal location. "It's a large-sized community but it's not as big as Toronto, which has a large source of traffic pollution. Everything here is pretty well from a local source."

The other important piece was Essar's co-operation, she said. Jerry Suurna, the steel-maker's manager of safety, environment and emergency services, sits on the study's community advisory committee.

She has also heard nothing but good things from the community.

Janice Wierzbicki grew up in the shadow of the steel giant, and still lives on nearby Letcher Street. Wierzbicki says it's "about time" people and corporations are getting serious about air pollution.

She said the air quality in the neighbourhood has improved dramatically since the old days, especially since Essar placed a baghouse on its No. 7 blast furnace. The $25-million air-pollution control device started working in February 2009.

It used to be, "if you left your window open, your whole room would be black," she said.

"I remember when I was young, you'd get little trails of coal dust."

Having said that, "you still notice it on cars, the graphite. It collects on the window sills."

She has not seen the study participants herself, but her mailman has described the odd sight.

Volunteer Kate Mitchell, who spent her first week wearing the filter helmet, admitted it took a bit of getting used to.

"I'll be happy not to have to wear it. . . . It's an adjustment. It's not that bad, more awkward than anything else," said the Sault College nursing student.

Mitchell chose the job, which she's supplementing with part-time work at Coles bookstore, both for its quirkiness and its importance.